Hundreds of students at a primary school in Stoke-on-Trent will now be set up for the school day with a free breakfast.

Moorpark Junior, in Burslem, is one of the first schools in England to sign up to the new National School Breakfast Programme.

The school is provided with bagels and cereal to give to every one of their 240 students, as wekk as their parents and siblings.

The cost of the scheme is being met by the Government and delivered by the charities Family Action and Magic Breakfast.

It is aimed at targeting schools in disadvantaged areas to allow them to provide the children with the energy they need to learn.

Now headteacher Karen Peters says the school has already seen the benefits of the free breakfasts.

Children at Moorpark Junior School can help themselves to bagels or porridge

She said: "We are already seeing the benefits of being able to offer everyone a healthy breakfast before lessons, with children now settled and ready to learn in the first classes of the day. We are delighted to have signed up to the National School Breakfast Programme."

The school will receive healthy breakfast food for four terms and there is also support from a dedicated member of NSBP staff, a resource pack and a £500 start-up grant to buy equipment such as toasters or a freezer.

Assistant headteacher Lyndsey Wright said: "Our school is an a disadvantaged area and we want to make sure kids start the day with a healthy breakfast in the morning.

Read More

Top stories on StokeonTrentLive

Research funded by the Education Endowment Foundation and carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that Year 2 pupils in schools providing a free breakfast boosted their reading, writing and maths by an average of two months' progress per year.

Carmel McConnell MBE, founder of Magic Breakfast, said: "Crucially it will ensure a nutritious breakfast reaches many more thousands of hungry schoolchildren, unlocking up to four hours of learning each morning to support their education.

"This is an excellent investment in these children and in the future of this country."